HVAC Website Design

A website is the foundation of every HVAC business in 2019. As a company that has designed websites for more over 200 clients, we’ve learned a thing or two about what makes a website successful for heating and cooling businesses. But before we get into what those things are, its important to define what success is for an HVAC contractor who markets their services online in 2019. In our conversations with clients, the consensus is that HVAC leads are the most important indicator of online success. The rest of it is just a pathway towards the end goal. With that knowledge, let’s take a look at the elements of quality HVAC web design:

Mobile DesignHaving a high performance mobile website is mandatory in 2019 and beyond, and that’s not even a question. Ensure your mobile website is fast, visually appealing, and easily naviagable for users.

Custom Design

Most heating and cooling contractors fail to generate success with their website because of the usage of HVAC websites templates. These free stock templates (or sometimes paid for $15-$50) prevent the pages from ranking well on Google search results. Some of the templates present fine, but their coding structure is not unique and therefore is not conducive to high rankings. Google prefers websites that are unique, not just in presentation but in code. HVAC Webmasters makes each of our websites custom. Elements of custom design include:

Engagement: Spark’s the user’s interest, rather than looking redundant

Optimization: Clean code for optimal Google rankings

Personalization: Usage of logos and color schemes

Uniqueness: Original design not duplicated from another source

Both the front and back end of your website should be customized. The front end shows users who get to your website that it is unique and professional. The back end tells Google the same thing. Having one, without the other, fails to maximize the potential of your HVAC company website. For instance, a professional looking template might appeal to the user, but they’ll never find it on organic search results because of a redundant code structure. Similarly, good code and bad presentation produces a high bounce rate, which will dip the site’s pre-established ranking considerably.

Mobile Design

2018 confirmed what everyone had already suspected. That mobile web access would dominate the marketplace. In fact, more than half of the searches performed by people looking for heating and cooling services were conducted via mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, etc. That number will continue to rise in 2019 and beyond. The moral of the story is this; mobile design is critical. HVAC Webmasters designs each website as mobile-first, meaning that while it’s responsive (it will work on every device), it’s tailored specifically to mobile users. Our principles of mobile design are:

Coding: Structuring mobile code for Google optimization

Display: Ensuring an ideal viewport for information consumption

Speed: Maximizing site speed on mobile to improve experience and ranking

Navigation: Providing simple and convenient navigation for the user

The stats are apparent, if a mobile site takes more than 2 seconds to load, the vast majority of users will bolt immediately, and most likely; to your competitor. Having a site load on time is a start, but it’s not enough to keep the user engaged. To do that, the navigation must be seamless, so that the individual can consume the information they need as conveniently as possible. Aside from the obvious necessity for display, a code-optimized mobile site is important so that users can find it in the first place, on Google.

Responsive Design

While the majority of HVAC searches originate on mobile, there are still desktop users who must be accounted for. The solution is responsive web design which allows a site to display optimally on any device. Using this form of coding allows the site’s HTML to respond based on the device through which it is accessed. For example, an iPad user would see larger dimensions than an iPhone user, but both would display exactly how the designer intended. The same is true for desktop and laptop users who consume access your company website online. Elements of responsive design are:

Social Sharing: Allows URL’s to be shared across devices and platforms

Since Google is on the record of recommending responsive design, there should be no hesitation when incorporating it. Google even cites their algorithms ability to index responsive pages as a factor in their recommendation. It makes alot of sense, even if you don’t know much about website design. Think about the amount of devices people use to access a website today. With so many different variations available, it’s logical to pursue an optimal presentation for each of them, with a single design.

WordPress Design

Every website needs a content management system (CMS). A CMS keeps the content on your HVAC website organized and optimized. You’ve probably heard of WordPress, which is the most popular CMS on the market. And for good reason. HVAC Webmasters uses WordPress CMS themes for each client website we create. Now you might be thinking, can’t I just buy HVAC WordPress themes? Yes you can, but again, when themes are being sold, you must understand they’re being sold to hundreds and thousands of people. That means your website is not unique at all. HVAC Webmasters provides custom WordPress websites for HVAC contractors. Benefits include:

Blogging: WordPress supports internal blogs, which makes each post part of your main site

Community: Because of WP’s massive following, a community of developers help advance its capabilities each day, month, and year

SEO: WordPress helps optimize your website and rank it on Google

Other CMS’s exist like Drupal, Joomla, and others, but none hold the weight of WordPress. Bear in mind however, that WordPress.ORG; the CMS, should not be confused with WordPress.com; which is not a CMS, but rather an isolated blogging platform. With WordPress.com, the blogs are not custom-designed, but are rather picked from templates by the webmaster. Needless to say, HVAC Webmasters uses only WordPress.ORG; the CMS, when designing client websites. Another thing to keep in mind is that Wix and Weebly are psuedo-CMS’s, but they don’t provide the same level of control as WordPress.

Put The Team to Work for You

We are a team of passionate, talented individuals who work to make sure our clients receive the best of our services. From our professional webmasters, to social media gurus, to specialized writers, we can handle all your internet marketing needs.